I was on vacation when Rockford's Jake Smolinski was called up to the majors. Now that I'm back I've put together the Rockford-Freeport area all-time hits list to see how far the Texas Rangers outfielder can climb.

It's not a long list. This area hasn't produced much major league talent really since the 1930s.

Player, home city, years in majors, games, at bats, hits, average

Fred Schulte, Belvidere, 1927-1937, 1,179, 4,259, 1,241, .291

Ed Swartwood, Rockford, 1881-1892, 724, 2,876, 861, .299

Ward Miller, Mount Carroll, 1909-1917, 769, 2,244, 623, .278

Al Spalding, Byron, 1871-1878, 411, 1,959, 613, .313

Joe Charboneau, Belvidere, 1980-1982, 201, 647, 172, .266 *

Hal Carlson, Rockford, 1917-1930, 385, 712, 159, .223

Ken Rudolph, Rockford, 1969-1977, 328, 743, 158, .213 **

Nels Potter, Mount Morris, 1936-1949, 352, 562, 128, .228

Fred Roat, Oregon, 1890-1892, 65, 246, 54, .220

Josh Bell, Rockford, 2010-2012, 100, 272, 53, .195 ***

Gene Lamont, Rockford, 1970-1975, 87, 159, 37, .233 ****

Homer Hillebrand, Freeport, 1905-1908, 47, 131, 31, .237

George Bird, Stillman Valley, 1871, 25, 106, 28, .264

Orville Jorgens, Rockford, 1935-1937, 144, 157, 23, .146

Fred Cone, Rockford, 1871, 19, 77, 20, .260

Jake Smolinski, Rockford, 2014, 4, 14, 8, .571

Frank Bishop, Belvidere, 1884, 4, 16, 3, .188

Rodney Myers, Rockford, 1996-2004, 167, 18, 3, .167

Charlie Swindell, Rockford, 1904, 3, 8, 1, .125

* Charboneau was born in Belvidere but moved away when he was 2.

** Rudolph was born in Rockford but moved to the Los Angeles area when he was 7.

*** Bell was born in Rockford but spent most of his childhood in Florida.